UPDATE: According to KTVQ, local landowners did on Monday ask District Court Judge John McKeon to issue a temporary restraining order against the transport of these bison to the Fort Peck Indian Reservation. They report that as of 5:15 Monday night, the Judge had not ruled. The landowners are accusing the state of signing the agreement and loading up the bison without public notice.
As of roughly 1 o’clock yesterday, truckloads of Yellowstone National Park bison were en route to the Fort Peck Indian Reservation in northeast Montana. However, the agreement that made way for the transport to happen has still not been released publicly. The move comes after a Memorandum of Understanding (MOU) was signed Friday between the Fort Peck Tribe and Montana Fish, Wildlife and Parks.
Northern Ag Network spoke with the FWP’s Ron Aasheim about what went into that agreement after the FWP Commission had voted earlier that this could go forward.Northern Ag is still trying to get our hands on that MOU so that we can see exactly what the specifications are. We’re not the only ones.
It is believed that the document will be released publicly once both sets of signatures are on the same form. That may or may not take place Tuesday.
During the 2011 Montana Legislature, the Stockgrowers worked hard to ensure the passage of SB212, which requires FWP to adopt a management plan before bison are translocated anywhere in the state of Montana.
Montana Fish, Wildlife and Parks tells us that 64 bison were loaded into stock trucks Monday. Robert Magnan with the Fort Peck Fish and Game Department told the Associated Press that the date of the shipment was “kept quiet until it was underway to avoid a court injunction.” A group of northeast Montana landowners and property groups did file lawsuit in state district court in January looking to stop the movement of the bison.
For more information, please read “Deal Signed, Yellowstone Bison Going to Fort Peck.”
© Northern Ag Network 2012
Haylie Shipp
